Professor Kristen Leslie – Strident Evanglical Themes at the U.S. Air Force Academy

The series on evangelical Christianity at the United States Air Force Academy, continues with Kristen Leslie, a professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at the Yale University Divinity School. Professor Leslie was invited to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado to meet with the Academy chaplains and provide training in the counseling of female cadets who were victims of sexual assaults that had occurred at the Academy. In the course of her visits in 2004 and 2005, Professor Leslie and the group of graduate students from the Yale Divinity School who accompanied her, observed what she called “strident evangelical themes” at the Academy. Professor Leslie testified before the Subcommittee on Military Personnel of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Armed Services on June 28, 2005, at the Congressional hearing entitled “Religious Climate at the U.S. Air Force Academy,” and reported her observations of her visit that included: The hanging of a banner containing an overtly Christian message by the football coach in the team locker room; the Air Force Academy commandant leading a “challenge and response” cheer about Jesus in front of a group of cadets of mixed faith; distribution of flyers advertising religious events in the cadet dining hall and over the public address system; failure of the Air Force Academy to consider the religious practices of cadets of minority faiths when setting the cadet schedule; and public expressions of faith by senior staff and faculty members, in some cases in inappropriate venues such as classrooms. Interviews with MeLinda Morton, the Air Force Academy Chaplain who resigned the end of July 2005, and Attorney Mikey Wienstein, a 1977 graduate of the Air Force Academy, both of whom are outspoken critics of the inaction on the part of the Air Force Academy leadership may be found here on the Radio Curious website. The Harvard University Committee on the Study of Religion has a detailed report, with abundant links to other articles on this issue that may be found at www.pluralism.org. And information about Professor Leslie’s testimony before Congress may be found at www.yale.edu/divinity/press. This interview with Kristen Leslie speaking from her office at Yale University about these issues was recorded on August 26, 2005.

Professor Kristen Leslie recommends “Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader,” by Ann Fadiman.

Originally Broadcast: August 30, 2005

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Rev. MeLinda Morton – Evangelical Proselytization at the United States Air Force Academy

This program with MeLinda Morton, a Lutheran minister who resigned from active duty as a chaplain at the United States Air Force Academy effective July 31, 2005, continues our series on evangelical proselytization within the United States Air Force and at the United States Air Force Academy in Coloradio Springs, Colorado. This interview was recorded on August 19, 2005, and begins with Rev. Morton describing her duties as a pastoral chaplain to the cadets at the Air Force Academy and the issues that led up to her resignation. If you are interested in this topic, please listen to interview with Mikey Weinstein, an Air Force Academy graduate and a former attorney in the Reagan White House.

Rev. MeLinda Morton recommends “No Future, Queer Theory and the Death Drive,” by Lee Edelman.

Originally Broadcast: August 23, 2005

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Mikey Weinstein – Evangelical Christianity and the United States Air Force Academy

There are concerns that evangelical Christianity is close to being officially sanctioned at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as well as within other areas of the United States’ military forces. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit some of these issues with Mikey Weinstein, a graduate of Air Force Academy, a businessman and former attorney in the Reagan White House. He describes how evangelical Christianity appears to have become the standard within the United States Air Force Academy that trains future leaders of the U.S. Air Force. At the beginning of an Air Force career each new cadet, among many other things, takes an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. These cadets are led by Brig. Gen. Johnny A Weida, the current USAF Academy Commandant of Cadets. On the official Air Force website, under character development, Brig. Gen. Weida is quoted as saying, “Our primary emphasis is to ensure every graduate has the character, honor, integrity, sense of service and excellence required of a second lieutenant in the world’s greatest Air and Space force.” On July 29, 2005, the name of Brig Gen Weida, the number two officer of the Air Force Academy, was deleted from a list of Air Force generals to be promoted, shortly before the Senate voted on those promotions. An April 28, 2005 report by American United for Separation of Church and State accused Brig Gen Weida of proselytizing to the cadets and specifically endorsing evangelical Christianity at the Academy. It is suggested that this may be a reason why he was not promoted. This interview with Mikey Weinstein, who worked as Assistant General Counsel in the Reagan White House Office of Administration, was recorded by telephone from his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on August 3, 2005.

Mikey Weinstein recommends “The Sins of Scripture,” by John Shelby Spong.

Originally Broadcast: August 9, 2005

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John Arquilla – Networks and Netwars

The war that the United States has invoked in what is often called the “War On Terror” is unusual in many ways. One of those ways is that this war is being fought against a network that is spread out in many unsuspecting and obscure places. It is not being fought as many wars have been in the past, directly against another county. Dr. John Arquilla, is a professor of defense analysis and co-director of the justify on Terrorism at the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California. In this program we talk with Professor Arquilla about the fighting tactics employed by networks as opposed to countries, the threats they pose, and some of the war tactics used against these networks.

John Arquilla recommends “Kim,” by Rudyard Kipling.

Originally Broadcast: June 21, 2005

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Sam Totten – Genocide in Darfur

Genocide is the intent to exterminate in whole or in part a specific group of people often based on nationality, ethnicity, race or religion. For the past two years, in the Darfur region of the nation of Sudan, located in north central Africa and populated primarily by black Africans, the Sudanese government has been committing racial genocide. Reports are that as many as 400,000 black African civilians have been murdered by the Sudanese government together with Arab rebel groups in Darfur. Professor Sam Totten, a scholar in Genocide Studies at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, visited the Darfur area in the fall of 2004 and has been examining this present day massacre that most of the world has chosen to ignore. I spoke with Professor Totten from his home in Arkansas and asked him to explain the reasons behind the genocide.

www.savedarfur.org

Sam Totten recommends “Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda,” by Romeo Dallaire.

Originally Broadcast: June 7, 2005

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Frank Pacino – Life in the Marine Corps

When recruiters from the Armed Forces of the United States seek out volunteers, they often portray military life to be a great adventure. They talk of schooling, travel and excitement. Sometimes that is not the case. In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit Sgt. Frank Pacino, who spent his early life in Covelo, California and then moved to Ukiah, California. Frank Pacino was recruited into the Marine Corps in early 2001 and is now a Sergeant. He was one of the first troops to go into Iraq in 2002, where he spent approximately six months. He was returned to Iraq in 2004 for a year.

Frank Pacino recommends “Bush At War,” by Bob Woodward.

Originally Broadcast: May 17, 2005

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Bernard Offen – Surviving the Holocaust

My Hometown Concentration Camp

Bernard Offen, age 72, survived five Nazi concentration camps in Poland during World War Two, when he was a young teenager. He now leads tours of these concentration camps and tells his story in this interview.

Bernard Offen recommends “My Hometown Concentration Camp,” by himself.

Originally Broadcast: May 3, 2005

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David Osborn – The Papal Conclave

The Last Pope

It is no secret that the papal conclave met April 18, 2005 to elect the head of one of the world’s few remaining imperial monarchies.However, those participating in the conclave and those assisting the Cardinals who will elect the next pope are sworn to secrecy regarding all the events within this historic gathering.In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit with papal scholar David Osborn, the author of “the Last Pope” who we interviewed in June 2004.“The Last Pope” is a novel about the lives and the papal competition of two Cardinals of the Catholic Church, after the death of a conservative and long tenured Pope.In this interview David Osborn discusses the process and some of the politics of electing the successor to Pope John Paul II.When I spoke with David Osborn from his home in Connecticut, I asked him about what he believed would occur just prior to the opening of the conclave on April 18, 2005.

David Osborn recommends “Remembrance of Things Past,”by Marcel Proust.

Originally Broadcast: April 19, 2005

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Rep. Mike Thompson (D) – Interview with Congressman Mike Thompson

Each of the 435 members of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress represents approximately 680,000 people, and is elected every two years. Mike Thompson is in his 4th term representing California’s 1st Congressional District that includes the northwest coast of California. Congressman Thompson visited the studios of Radio Curious on February 22, 2005 and we discuss many topics beginning with a question posed to me earlier that day: “When will the Democrats get their act together…”

Rep. Mike Thompson (D) recommends “Don’t Think of an Elephant, Know your Values and Frame the Debate—An Essential Guide for Progressives,: by George Lakoff; “What’s the Matter With Kansas, How Conservatives Won the Heart of America,” by Thomas Hart; and “Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History,” by George Crile.

Originally Broadcast: February 22, 2005

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Swanee Hunt – Women Waging Peace

This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace

Women Waging Peace is a global policy-oriented initiative working to integrate women into the peace process. Swanee Hunt, a former United States Ambassador to the Austria, founded it. Swanee Hunt is also the author of “This Was Not Our War; Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace.” She interviewed twenty-six Bosnian women who are reconstructing their society in the years following the devastating war in their country. These women describe what it was like living in a vibrant multicultural community that suddenly imploded in an onslaught of violence. They relate the chaos; the atrocities, the rapes of neighbors and friends, their efforts to care for children and elderly parents and to find food and clean drinking water. This interview with Ambassador Swanee Hunt was recorded from her home near Boston, Massachusetts in February 2005.

Swanee Hunt recommends “The Courage To Be,” by Paul Tillich.

Originally Broadcast: February 15, 2005

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